Bill Kauffman Blog for Aug. 3 - On the Ground, On the Court

Court ActionWith the first Olympic Games pool match only six days away, Team USA got its first workout in Beijing under its belt Sunday morning at Beijing Normal University.

The gym facility is monstrous as it will be able to house several sports to train during the Olympics, including men’s basketball on the same arena floor as the women’s volleyball team. A temporary 24-Hour Fitness is setup within the building, along with sports medicine facilities and the obligatory locker rooms. Water polo trains in the facility, along with fencing, judo, teak won do and wrestling.

As for the women’s volleyball team, the workout must have come very quickly after a 12-hour flight from San Francisco. Nonetheless, the three-hour workout allowed the players to activate the muscles after time cramped in an airplane seat for so many hours.

The team was able to shower quickly before heading back to the lodging part of Beijing Normal to have lunch and down time to rest or check e-mails. Later in the day, the team took part in a video session scouting a possible Olympic opponent.

Setting SunThrough the window of the Beijing Normal University Press Room, a beautiful scene lit up the sky. Most of today the sun was out with plentiful blue sky.

At dusk, a brilliant sunset was occurring before my eyes with various hues of red encasing the sun. I tried to take a picture of the sunset through the window, but the brilliant colors were stripped from the digital image. I knew I would not have time to go outside the building and find a location without another building blocking my view to take a picture of the sunset.

Maybe I will get another opportunity to get a sunset picture here in Beijing.